The Town of Rosetown Office is going to be the host site for a special presentation today.

Carmen Ledding, Program Director with the Canadian Mental Health Association branch in the West Central community, is also a committee member of 'Age-Friendly Rosetown', a group that will be receiving a plaque of recognition, as Age-Friendly Rosetown is the first community in Saskatchewan to have achieved the status of Maintaining Recognition, similar to accreditation in the health care field. 

It's a terrific program, as organizers say they are not aware of any program like this in the rest of the country.

"The status of Maintaining Recognition is unique to the Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism and Saskatchewan and recognizes that initial Provincial Recognition is not the destination but a multi-year journey," stated the release, "Fifteen communities in this province are now part of the Age-Friendly movement. Together, their combined populations represent over half a million people in a variety of locations ranging from rural municipalities and towns to our two largest cities."

Also included in the release is that Age-Friendly communities are about community development by and with older adults, and that while leadership and participation feature older adults, it's known that "age-friendly" means all-ages friendly where everyone benefits.

Still curious on what some of this actually means? We caught up with Ledding to speak on the topic ahead of today's ceremony as their committee promotes the accessibility and awareness of programs and services for seniors in Rosetown. It's an important service that Ledding is honoured to be a part of.

"Especially in small town Saskatchewan it is really beneficial," said Ledding as communities such as the ones in West Central tend to pull together and support one another, "(We have) less resources than what our urban counterparts might have."

Ledding is eager to see this award affirming their status as a group. Being unique to Saskatchewan, what it does is acknowledge their plan in terms of what ideas there are for multi-year potential of programs for seniors. Not only do they look at what seniors are doing, it's important to advertise when they are doing it. They also want people to know that Age-Friendly stands for just that.

"Age-Friendly communities are about community development by, and with older adults. Age-Friendly Rosetown has regular events to promote what we do. For instance, in the Fall we had a barbecue, and just a couple of weeks ago we had a country Christmas music event."

The team is to thank for the plaque of recognition as they provide so much assistance around town.

"We have such a fabulous group of volunteers that work together to provide rides for seniors, to promote access to (different programs)," said Ledding, "In the year to come we hope to print information so that seniors know what services are available to them, as well as basically patting on the back the businesses and individuals in our community that help Age-Friendly. Help do things for local seniors so that it is a more acceptable community for them."

The special recognition is nice, because it represents a group that never quit helping in their community.

"I mean everywhere people are struggling to keep volunteers. You can't just get a committee together and talk about things, you have to do them."

"It's really great to see how well the committee works together, whether you have people from the Health Authority, or just volunteers, and other community organizations that come together to brainstorm and talk about things that seniors have talked about in recent surveys. What do they need access to? What areas do they need help with? Information on? Our senior population isn't always necessarily going to look to the internet. Or use the yellow pages that once were, to be able to find out what things are available to them."

They are excited for the physical plaque, but mostly just the recognition that comes with it.

"So that people know, 'Hey, Rosetown has this going on. We have a committee of dedicated volunteers that make this a priority.' It's what allows seniors to stay in their home community as long as they possibly can, and we definitely in the coming years want to provide information and supports to assist seniors in staying in their homes as long as possible."

Ledding wants it to be known that while she works at the CMHA branch in Rosetown for ways to help everyone, a good chunk of her separate time is spent supporting the mental health of seniors. She is a proud member of Age-Friendly, a complimentary service alongside her profession, and she is happy to be giving her all to the good word of mental health. 

Ledding is just one individual on behalf of the group helping accept the award, but knows that she is just one of the many helpers out there that makes the program what it is.

"I'm just one of many people who wear many hats."